Cocktails using Brazil's cachaça

A selection of cocktail recipes for cachaca, a sweet, clear liquor that is a signature flavor of Brazil.

Caipirinha

(Bulla Gastrobar, a Spanish restaurant and bar in Coral Gables, Fla.)

Ingredients:

1.5 ounces of cachaca

Half a lime cut into cubes

2 bar spoons of white sugar

directions:

In a rocks glass, muddle the lime and sugar until well combined. Add cachaca, then pour into a shaker, add ice and shake vigorously. Pour everything back into original glass so that the contents mix with sugar that was left over in the muddle glass. Once combined, pour into a fresh rocks glass and serve with a lime wedge.

Bulla's mixologist, Joel Mesa, has created a daiquiri alternative that replaces rum with cachaca and adds mango to infuse the cocktail with more flavor. "The balance between the sweetness and acidity is just gorgeous, much like this very popular part of Ipanema Beach that this is named after — the closest you can get to there without being there," Mesa said in an email.

Mesa's Daiquiri Posto Nove

Ingredients:

A thick slice of mango, muddled

1/2 oz. lemon juice

1 oz. simple syrup

1/2 oz. blackberry brandy

1/2 oz. St. Germain elderflower liqueur

1 1/2 oz. cachaca

directions:

Add the ingredients to a shaker and shake well. Pour through a strainer into a cocktail glass and garnish with a lime wheel.

Leblon's cachaca cocktail

Ingredients:

1 oz. Leblon Cachaca

4 oz. white Zinfandel wine

2 oz. white cranberry juice

1 oz. açai syrup

directions:

Combine all the ingredients in a mixing glass, then shake them all together with ice. Pour into a highball glass, then top with lemon-lime soda and garnish with blueberries and lemon.

Leblon's Amazonia

Ingredients:

2 oz. Leblon Cachaca

2 oz. white cranberry juice

1/2 oz. St. Germain elderflower liqueur

1/4 oz. fresh lime juice

4 basil leaves

Champagne, to top

directions:

Combine all of the ingredients, except for the Champagne, in a shaker. Shake vigorously with ice and strain over ice into a highball glass. Splash with Champagne and serve.

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